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Topic: How do I know I got the queen (Read 2051 times)

So here is the deal. A coworker of mine had a very large hive in the side of his shed and I know it's late in the season but it was either get the hive or he kills them all so I tore it open and started to vacuum out bees with a bee vacuum I fashioned (worked great and no dead bees) any whoo I never found the queen but I have a pretty good feeling that she got sucked up because when I put them in there new home they fanned on the outside they are still in the hive cleaning it out of dead bees and in the past three days have gone through a pint and a half of honey that I saved from their original hive. They are also pretty active and I saw them defending the hive from a baby wasp. I'm just wondering if it sounds like the queen is in there or are they just working until they die. I was always under the impression that a hive with no queen slows down and stops working just waiting to die. Am I wrong?

Did you transfer brood comb into your set up? Check for eggs/very young larvae? It sounds as if you may have the queen but then again a good size bit of bees can go into survival mode even bringing in pollen and nectar.

Without knowing for certain you have a queen, only way to tell is to go in and inspect for eggs/queen.

Ditto, what MB said. In about half of the cut outs I do I never find the queen but am always sure to save every bit of brood and eggs I can. When I get them home I set them over on a bottom board and let them be for three to four days before going in and looking for eggs. By day four all of the eggs should have hatched so if eggs are found I got the queen if not I give them another couple days to see if she just skipped a day or so getting settled in. Most of the time, over half of the time, when I don't find her on the cut out she makes it through the vac and gets to work just fine. The rest of the time the ladies take care of matters themselves by pulling queen cells from the eggs I saved for them. Occasionally I do have to shift a frame of eggs from another hive. Be patient though as I had one this season that I knew I had the queen, a virgin found and contained, that went a week without eggs. I gave them a frame and still nothing so they got another frame thinking she failed to make it back from her nuptials. Still no queen cells or eggs. It was week three that I found eggs so for whatever reason that virgin queen must have delayed getting bred and getting to work.

No, you do not need brood IF you get the queen in good shape. She will get right back to work on whatever open comb that may be available. Having comb for her is always a good thing but even without the bees will pull new wax just like a swarm, though be advised you will need to feed to make wax and a colony may want to abscond if the transition is to abrupt (going from established with wax, brood and stores to nothing) and especially if there is no brood.

What if I have no brood comb to transfer. Will she just start laying in the new comb? Or do I absolutly need the brood comb

Depending on your location (pleas update your profile) they may be doomed if you did not bring over the brood. In the north, this is the time they are rearing winter bees. How did you not have brood comb, if you got honey from them?

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"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison

I did not see where you are located. If in the north (USA) you may not be able to keep the colony alive, if in the south, there might be a chance. Eather way, I would continue to help the colony. As for the queen, as JP and others have said - look for eggs and new larva. (of course if lucky you might see a bee with a crown, that would be a dead giveaway :lau:) You made a bee-vack good for you. -Mike

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..Listen to others but make your own decisions. That way you own the results...

Well I am in Colorado so I will def update my profile. And when I opened up the hive there was literally like seven capped brood in the brood comb and that was for a hive about 8 ft tall by 4 ft wide. I hate to admit it but I think I didn't look hard enough for eggs. I hope I got her. Their hum isn't loud or a roar like they say it can become but I also haven't opened the hive yet to check. How long should I wait till I open it to see what they are doing?

Robo, is dead on. You also have take into consideration time of year when doing cut outs. Here in central Georgia (33 latitude) I am at my cut off date being approximately 80 days from first frost. I do have one scheduled for Wed but it has to come out and I do have options with six boxes already in the yard. If need be I can combine them with another or feed them brood from others. I assume you are just getting started but whenever you can get at least two colonies, three or four better. Good luck.

I figured it was pretty late in the season especially around here but it was either cut em out or they die from a good spraying. I figured cutting them out at least gave them a chance. I wasn't really planning on a hive this late.

Jp is right. Once they get settled for a bit confine them down to a nuc if necessary. It would not hurt to set some 1:1 syrup away from the hive a distance for them to gather. It may help get the queen laying again.